Suspects located in Medford 'KKK' cross burning

Investigators have served a search warrant on a southwest Medford home linked to suspects in a possible hate crime in Medford.

Medford police, an Oregon State Police detective and Federal Bureau of Investigation agent went to the home at about 3:30 p.m. Friday, Medford police Lt. Tim Doney said. He declined to disclose the location because investigators are still collecting evidence and interviewing the people who were at the home.

Police suspect the people now in custody are responsible for the letters "KKK" and a cross being burned into the grass in front of a home in the 500 block of Benson Street where a mixed-race family, Sol and Jonathan Whyte and their two daughters, live. The vandalism happened shortly after 11 p.m. Monday.

The investigation is ongoing to determine whether that case is related to altered fireworks tossed at other homes in the neighborhood that day and an incident Thursday night in which a suspect poured gasoline spelling out an obscenity and "KKK" on the pavement of Prune Street.

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